The Clearing
by bella-the-lamb13
Summary: This is just a short story i wrote for english homework i got an A  so i just wanted to share it with you. it was supposed to be short so i didnt get in alot of detail but after 8 page i thought i should stop. lol my inspiration was twilight hope you like


The Clearing – English horror

The cold air whipped at my hair furiously as I stood on the outskirts of the school. The brown, dry, dust of the mud was being blown into the faces of other students, practically blinding them in sharp, painful movements. The faint scent of crisp grass and wildflowers was being carried through the raging wind from the blackened trees of the forest. Rain pelted down in hard actions, to come face-to-face with the concrete ground. In a small town like this, this kind of weather was not unfamiliar.

The modern building of the high school was always- under any circumstances- covered in huge, black clouds. The ash-filled sky surrounded the walls, floating low and high, turning into a grey fog as the clouds reach lower down. These were not ordinary clouds. These clouds were look-like-they-belong-in-hell clouds, making the school look even more deadly than in reality.

"Poppy!" My friend, Sara, brought me back from my reverie. I turned around to face her piercing blue eyes. "Have you seen the new boy?" she asked, unable to hide the excitement radiating of her.

"No," I replied. I didn't exactly see the big deal. It was just some boy; we've been surrounded by them almost every day of our lives. So what makes this one so special?

"You _have_ to see this guy!" Sara hollered, making everyone turn our way.

"Why? What's the big deal about some boy?" I whispered, while looking around us to try and avert the attention away.

Suddenly every girl in sight had wide eyes and mouths hanging open. Well at least I didn't have to worry about being in the spotlight anymore.

"You will see the big deal for yourself, if you just turn around," she murmured to me, while aimlessly trying to tame my flame red hair from the wind. I was seriously confused by now. Curious, I turned my head slightly towards what had stolen the centre of attention from all girls within, what I'm guessing, a mile. Every single girl in sight was drooling over the new boy.

Not that I could blame them, I mean he looked like a god in disguise. He had emerald green eyes, faint brown, floppy hair; and as for the rest of him, that was just as perfect.

"Josh," Sara breathed. "That's his name," she explained. Like I wouldn't understand what she meant if she just said, 'Josh'?

"Yeah, I kind of guessed that Sara," I snapped, acid dripping off every word.

"I was just saying," she retorted, barley over a whisper. I sighed and pulled my eyes away, facing her again. What was the point in wallowing in something you would never, and _could_ never, have? What kind of guy would go for _me_? I was a plain Jane. The atmosphere that surrounded me screamed 'boring' from head-to-toe.

"Let's get to class," I told Sara - I didn't want to have her staring past me, to gaze at the unnatural beauty behind me, _all_ day.

I practically had to drag her away, out of her awed stare, until 'Josh' was out of view. There was something about him. Not just the undeniable good looks, but something about him didn't seem right; didn't seem _normal. _I just couldn't put my finger on it.

Was it the way he took in his surroundings? His posture? The uneasy glance around, seeming to find the nearest escape root, to make his run if it came down to it? Maybe all of them together? But then again, I had been known for being over observant…

If nobody else noticed it, it mustn't be something big? Or maybe they just can't see past the designer clothes and shaggy hair style?

I decided to shrug it off as we walked down the corridor to English. Class was the same, but I wasn't. I just kind of drifted from one place to another, speaking when spoken to, but I wasn't really there. I was thinking about him. The new boy. Josh.

I was wondering what it was that had caught everyone's eye. What was it that had everyone so hooked on this guy?

At lunch I was brought back to the real world during one of Sara's many rants about how Josh had handed her back her pencil when she dropped in Art. She had already told this story countless times today, going through every single detail with precision, as though she was trying to re-live the whole thing- which she probably was.

"I heard he lives out by the woods," I heard some of the other girls chatting in the background, gossiping like old women at a tea party.

"Yeah, I heard that, too," one of the others replied. "Lucky Poppy," she muttered. She must have been referring to the well known fact, that I was the only one in this school (apart from Josh, apparently) that lives in the woods.

"Yeah. Lucky Poppy," they all sighed in agreement.

Days past and nothing much changed. It was only a week later when I first saw Josh out on one of the trails in the woods.

I hid behind a tree as I took in his battered clothes and muddy face. His usual brown disarray of hair was even more dishevelled than usual. I then noticed the shovel he was carrying. _A shovel?_ I thought, _why in the world would he have a shovel?_

As soon as he was out of sight, I followed through the path it looked like he was walking on to find a large clearing in amongst the dark trees.

There were large dirt piles along the hardened mud of the forest floor. So that's what the shovel was for then. But why was he digging?

I made my way back through the tall trees and thought nothing of it until the next day. As soon as I heard the words 'murder' and 'Ravensbourg' in the same sentence on the radio, I was all ears. Hearing about a murder was enough to get me interested, but as soon as the name of our small town was brought up, I just had to know.

"Alisha Brenning from the small town, Ravensbourg, has been missing for over three weeks now. Last night a severed arm was found near a river in the forest there, and has been confirmed to have had belonged to the 19 year old," the man continued on and on, about the case.

I was hardly listening now though. The only thing I could think about was how I hadn't noticed the speck of red on Josh's collar last night…

But, no. That couldn't be it. I mean he's only, what? Sixteen? Why was I even considering this? I guess I'm just paranoid.

I sighed heavily as I arrived at the school and went to first period.

The day continued as most of my days do: go to class, get homework, leave, and repeat. That was until lunch when in the lunch line a certain guilty looking boy came up to me.

"Hey, you're Poppy, right?" he asked. Wow.

"Erm…y-yeah. H-hi," I so hoped that he hadn't noticed when I stammered. Josh smirked a confident smile as I felt my face heat up. No doubt my face had just produced a new shade of red that was not yet known to mankind. Just fantastic.

"Do you, er, want to sit with me?" he asked. I was abruptly overwhelmed by the thought that he would even notice me, let alone ask to have lunch with me.

It was then I realised about ten seconds had passed with me just staring at him. I felt my heart pick up again as I blushed a deep crimson. "Sure," I replied at last, my voice breaking.

God, could I not say one word to this guy without embarrassing myself?

"Great. I'm right over there," he indicated with his left hand to a so far empty table. I knew that as long as Josh was sitting at it, it would be packed soon enough.

"Okay," I smiled weakly in response as he quietly left and I tried to calm down my heart. I'm pretty sure it was going 100 times faster than usual.

I collected my lunch, a slice of pizza and a bottle of lemonade. I turned away to face the wall. _Deep breaths, Poppy_, I told myself_, just stay calm._ I whipped around and walked quickly up to the table and sat opposite him – I knew that if I was too slow, I would end up chickening out and making a run for it.

As soon as I saw his heartbreakingly beautiful smile grow when he saw me, I knew there was no turning back.

"Hi," I whispered, unable to find my voice as I was too stunned by his grin.

"Hi. By the way, I'm Josh… I didn't introduce myself," Did he seriously just tell me his name? Did he not know that every single girl in this school, no probably this country would kill to just _see_ him? Of course I knew his name!

"I know," I murmured, "Poppy". I stuck my hand out for him to shake. He took it eagerly then let our hands fall, but he didn't let go. It felt strange, but yet comforting.

I still felt like I didn't know him, couldn't trust him. Yet I didn't want him to let go.

I could feel the daggers being thrown at me from all the girls in the room and I turned my head to see Sara and some other girls at our usual table. All of them, apart from Sara, gave me their best death glare and I soon looked away. I could still feel them staring at us, but I was unable to look back when my gaze met Josh's eyes.

It was like I was locked in place as his deep, amazing green eyes bore into my flat, boring brown ones.

"I hear you live in the forest," he spoke up, breaking the intense silence.

"Yeah," I told him. "Apparently so do you," I continued. "Did you hear about the murder? That Alisha girl?"

"Yeah, I did actually". And by the way he looked away, glancing around the room in that peculiar way I'd seen so many times, I could tell that that was all he was going to say on the topic.

We talked about things like favourite colours, foods; he also asked me things like childhood pets, if I'd had any? He had chuckled at my answer, how after killing six fish I gave up on the whole concept.

But throughout lunch, I could tell something was up. He kept looking at me strangely, almost regretfully? And he kept shifting his weight around, taking nervous glances at the exit every now and then.

"So I'll see you later?" he asked when the last bell rang, finally letting my hand free of his release. When he returned my hand it had a bizarre sensation, almost cold without his hand around it.

"Sure," I answered his question. "See you later".

I walked out of the cafeteria and towards my next class. As soon as I had entered the classroom, Sara was bombarding me with questions such as, 'Why were you sitting with him?', 'Do you think he likes you?', 'Why was he holding your hand?', and many others.

I just let her ramble on until Mr Stewart walked in to begin the lesson.

I didn't pay attention; I just focused on how to get out of school without running into any of the girls… Hmmm.

That was a tough one. I'm pretty sure there was no way whatsoever that I could've gone without seeing at least one girl. Maybe just Sara then?

She wasn't in my next class, so as soon as the bell rang I bolted for the door and up to my next lesson. Getting rid of Sara and her seemingly endless questions was easier than I had first anticipated.

So one more class and I would be free to wander the trees and return to my home. All through 6th period I was trying unsuccessfully to get rid of that unusual feeling in the hand Josh had held.

Josh. I still couldn't believe he had known my name. He had spoken to me, noticed me! Yet he seemed to refuse to acknowledge any other girl in his presence.

Class was over and I was home quicker than I had expected. As soon as I burst through the door, I was upstairs to my room and changing into the most comfortable clothes I could find (clothes that weren't pyjamas), and out the door again.

I wandered around in the thick layers of the woods for what must have been about an hour, letting the sweet scent of different flowers, and grass intoxicate me as my feet took me somewhere, I didn't know.

A little while later I recognized the path I was on. The one Josh was on last night, and I was instantly reminded of the happenings that had happened here.

Happenings such as murder.

I was about to turn back when I heard a twig snap behind me. I turned around, startled, to find a very muddy Josh looking apologetic at me.

"OH MY GOD! Josh, you scared me!" I gasped for breath, taken aback by his being there.

"Sorry," he laughed without humour, "You okay?" he asked me.

"Just give me a moment to restart my heart!" I leaned my head back against a tree and took deep breaths.

I could hear footsteps on the crunch of leaves as I closed my eyes.

"Come with me," he said. What was this about? It was a bit out of the blue.

"Okay," I agreed without even thinking, or asking where we were going. But with a quick flash of his smile my worries were gone.

He quickly snatched up my hand and led me down the path, the way I had seen him come from last night; the way to the clearing. Josh didn't speak a word on the way there, just pushing tree branches out of the way or kicking loose roots out of our path.

When we finally reached the edge of the trees he led me to the centre of the large circle. His hand was out of mine in a second and behind his back, he appeared to be holding something, but I didn't question it.

"Are you okay? Josh? I can tell there's something wrong…"

"Wrong? With what?" he asked. Good question. "With me? I think you and I both know the answer to that, Poppy". He looked up at my confused expression and smiled.

"You're very observant, aren't you, Poppy? I saw the way you took in everything about me the very first time you saw me, on that first day. I could tell you knew something was up…" he began to circle me.

Walking ever so slowly, when he had made one full circuit Josh lifted one hand to stroke my cheek softly with his fingertips.

"I'm ever so sorry for this," he apologized, "but after you saw me last night in the woods, I knew you would tell someone what you had noticed. And I couldn't risk that could I?" he whispered in my ear, using a voice so menacing it sent shivers down my spine.

"What are you," I was cut off by him answering my question, without words. No, he didn't speak, he just pulled out what he was hiding behind his back.

Suddenly everything fell into place, everything made sense. And I also knew that now was too late to make an escape.

I was too late.

Josh made his way closer to me and I tried to scream but no noise came out. Just a silent whimper.

His hand was while it wrapped around my neck, holding me still, while I stared wide eyed at the knife in his hand. I had never seen anything look so deadly in my entire life, but maybe this was just because this sense of danger was directed at me.

Me and me alone. And then he said the last word I wanted to hear. The words I dreaded to leave his lips, while the flashing blade moved closer.

"Goodbye Poppy."

9


End file.
